Category: News

Newstripe, a leading manufacturer of equipment for athletic field striping, pavement and floor striping, and industrial waste recycling, is pleased to announce the recent hiring of Keith VanOrman as Operations Manager.

Keith is a highly accomplished operations leader that brings a wealth of experience to the position. Prior to joining Newstripe, he held senior leadership roles at Rocky Mountain Orthodontics (CO), Turnbull Manufacturing Company (NY), Car Engineering (NY), and Wordingham Machine Company (NY). He has built a successful track record of managing teams that drive continuous improvement and deliver growth in bottom-line results. Keith is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and an active member of Mountain States Employers Council.

In his new role as Operations Manager at Newstripe, Keith will oversee all day-to-day operational activities of the company, including production, logistics, purchasing, and facilities to ensure Newstripe customers around the country receive the innovative, locally manufactured products they’ve come to expect from the company since its founding in 1981.

“Keith brings an arsenal of manufacturing skills and experience to Newstripe, and he will play a important role in helping our company implement its key growth initiatives,” stated Newstripe President Ralph Newman. “We feel extremely fortunate to have Keith join our leadership team.”

Keith may be reached at [email protected].

Within his busy spring schedule, we had a chance to sit down with Newstripe President Ralph Newman to get is thoughts about emerging trends in company’s core businesses, which include the manufacturing of products and equipment for Field Striping, Commercial Striping, and Industrial Recycling.n

How are Newstripe customers reacting to the gradual loosening of Covid-19 restrictions?

The volume of orders we’ve seen this spring has been truly amazing and our April sales were the highest we’ve seen since our founding in 1981. It seems that customers across all three of our businesses have come out of hibernation with renewed excitement to get back to business as usual. While this means some long days for the team at Newstripe, we really enjoy interacting with customers from across the country and helping them find the right products to get their job done.n

Are you seeing any emerging trends that you’d like to highlight?

In our field striping business, we’re seeing growing interest in GPS-enabled machines that can stripe an athletic field in auto-steering mode in record times. While these machines require a significant upfront investment, the ongoing labor savings is impressive and they are a hot topic among large users. We’re also hearing interest from our commercial customers for similar GPS technologies for their pavement and warehouse striping projects.nnIn our industrial recycling business, customers continue to navigate the ever-changing local, state, and federal regulations about the proper recycling and disposal of their industrial waste. This generates lots of questions from customers that we are happy to help answer. We’re also seeing companies continue to position their recycling efforts as a positive attribute in their company branding efforts which we fully support.n

Any trends on the digital and e-commerce front?

The digital side of Newstripe’s business continues to grow across all market segments and it was put into overdrive during the past year of Covid restrictions where customers engaged technology at a breathtaking pace. Lately, we’re seeing an increased demand to combine digital functionality with our in-person product and service support teams to deliver an integrated customer experience.n

Are there emerging trends in the supply line for parts and supplies?

Currently, the supply chain is in pretty dismal shape. Unlike the typically slow recovery from a recession, no one expected the “pandemic recovery” to be so quick and robust. Like many domestic manufacturing companies, raw materials, parts, and supplies have been a little harder to obtain due to production slowdowns related to the pandemic. Luckily, Newstripe stocked up ahead of time to minimize these issues for our customers. We’re now seeing gradual improvement on the supply front and expect the situation to resolve itself in the next 6-12 months.n

Any closing thoughts you’d like to share?

I just wanted to thank our great customers, distribution partners, and our Newstripe team members for their dedication, loyalty, and flexibility during the last 12 months. It was a unique period of time for everyone and we stood by each other to work through it. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year may bring.

A great thing about working with so many different companies and organizations is the fun projects we get to do. This is especially true in our Custom Stencils & Templates department where the Newstripe team converts customer ideas into production-ready custom stencils that help raise visibility for their brands.nnOne of our favorite projects was one where we worked with the booster club for a Texas high school softball program. They wanted to paint their zebra mascot on their softball field dugouts to boost team spirit and being loyal fans of the softball program, they wanted it BIG!nnNewstripe was provided with the overall vision, desired finished size (6 feet x 16 feet), and a good vector logo file. Then we got to work. In less than two weeks, we created four custom stencils using our industry-leading PolytoughTM stencil material that fit together to form the team’s mascot in “Super Size” for painting.

Our customer was blow away with the final result and how quickly Newstripe was able to turn their good idea into reality.nnIf your company or organization wants to increase its brand visibility, consider partnering with Newstripe to make it happen on or around your field or property with a custom stencil. To learn more, Contact Us.

As Newstripe’s fourth employee when he started 32 years ago, Research & Development Manager Kory Mehrer has seen and done it all. From fabrication and welding to painting and assembly, and now product design and development, Kory has held almost every job in Newstripe’s manufacturing facility and sometimes more than one at a time.nnKory’s experience, dedication, and unique approach to product development helps Newstripe keep pace with the evolving needs of its customers and ahead of the competition. He attributes the company’s product development success to four guiding principles:n

• • Listen to your customers

• • Be creative & innovate constantly

• • Leverage rapid “prototype-test-learn” processes

• • Nothing leaves the shop until it’s right

When asked about his favorite Newstripe product, Kory instantly goes to the NewRider 5000, first rolled out in 2010. Kory helped lead the development of this popular riding field line striping machine and subsequent upgrades over the years. He believes it’s still the best riding line striper on the market. “I just love taking to long-time customers who bought a NewRider 5000 a decade ago and are still actively using the machine on a daily basis. They just love the product and that makes me proud,” said Kory.nnWhen asked about the product innovation he sees in the future, Kory’s eyes light up. There’s GPS technology, stronger and lighter production materials, better manufacturing equipment, and new technologies that can make stripers more efficient and more environmentally friendly. From Kory’s perspective, the future looks very bright on the product innovation front and that means good things are on the way for Newstripe customers.

On August 2nd, Newstripe had the pleasure of sponsoring the 27th Annual Lawn Mower Open, organized by the Colorado Sports Turf Managers Association (CSTMA) at the scenic Pinery Country Club in Parker, Colorado. This annual charity golf event gathers industry professionals from across the state to raise much-needed scholarship funds for students interested in a sports turf career.

With some great weather, fun contests, and lots of professional networking, this event was a definite summer highlight for everyone involved, especially after many months of covid-related isolation.nnIn addition to being one of the event’s corporate sponsors, Newstripe organized two of the tournament’s on-course games: “Stay on the Green” and “Stay Inside the Circle”. These contests provided a great opportunity for Newstripe to display the incredible accuracy of its two new line striping machines, LineRider GPS+ and NewRider 5000 GPS, that feature automated field layout and steering using advanced GPS technology.

After the post-tournament banquet wrapped up, it seemed that everyone enjoyed being together in a beautiful outdoor setting, taking a much-needed work break for their computers and phones, and raising money to support the next generation of sports turf professionals.nnThe Newstripe team is already looking forward to next year’s event.